§ Sir Michael McNair-WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence why his Department did not arrange for a Treasury minute to be laid before Parliament before the transfer took place of West Queensway to the Government of Gibraltar.
§ Mr. FreemanAs part of the 1983 agreement on the transfer of the dockyard to the Government of Gibraltar, which the then Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement announced in the House on 27 July 1983, it was agreed that to aid economic development and diversification, an area of West Queensway (comprising some 4¼ acres including the NAAFI HQ, Imperial Court, the PSA exchange stores, the Army Watermanship training centre and the Queensway Club) would be transferred once the MOD facilities had been reprovided. Difficulties arose over the proposal to release the area and protracted negotiations with the Government of Gibraltar then followed before agreement upon mutually acceptable terms were reached earlier this year. The MOD facilities have been reprovided, the area was transferred on 1 June 1988 in line with the 1983 agreement.
The area is of no realisable value to the Ministry of Defence as, under the terms of the 1983 Lands Memorandum, surplus Crown land and property (with the exception of property which is less than 60 years old) is to be transferred to the Government of Gibraltar free of charge. Nevertheless, this case is of an unusual nature and my Department should have followed the normal practice for notifying Parliament of proposals to make such gifts. The practice in such cases is for the Department proposing to make the gift to arrange with the Treasury for a Minute to be presented to the House of Commons giving particulars of the gift and explaining the circumstances; and for assent to the gift to be withheld until 14 days (exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays) after the issue of the Minute, except in cases of special urgency.
710WI very much regret that the Ministry of Defence did not follow the correct procedure in this case, but nevertheless went ahead with the gift. A Minute covering the remaining areas of the gun and ordnance wharves, the transfer of which will complete the purchase, will be laid before the House immediately after the summer recess.